Month: October 2008

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Domestic issues Economics Election 2008 Obama Politics The Opinionsphere

Barack Obama Is Not a Socialist!

[digg-reddit-me]Data Points

  • My dad emailed me an editorial from Investor’s Business Daily – whose editorial page was described by the snarky, center-left online magazine Slate as veering “to the outer reaches of the right, making even the Journal‘s trademark business-friendly editorial line seem moderate.” The article my dad sent me stated that Obama is a “stealth socialist,” a kind of sleeper-agent for socialism, ready to unleash the forces of Marxism when he reaches the White House. (The same accusations flew around Bill Clinton in 1992.) The editorial alleges that Obama speaks in code to like-minded audiences, specifically citing the scary term, “economic justice.”
  • A friend of mine writes in his Facebook feed, “WAKE UP EVERYONE! HE IS A SOCIALIST!” including this picture of Stalin (a Communist.)

    I think he would have done better to include something like this picture. I thought of responding to this silly idea by pointing out that Palin and Stalin have most of the same letters in much the same order.
  • I’ve been having a long-running conversation with another friend – an “independent” voter who has been a supporter of McCain since 2000 – but who is very suspicious of the “far left” and “creeping socialism.” He believes that while Obama is not a socialist, he will allow those “far lefties” to gain influence and take away America’s freedom.
  • Sarah Palin, in her debate with Joe Biden, brought up the specter of socialist health care and then quoted Ronald Reagan saying that “freedom is always just one generation away from extinction” – a phrase he used to attack the very popular Medicare program as socialist (as Paul Krugman pointed out in a recent column).
  • The bailout and the various other proposals and actions by the Bush administration have been described in the pages of the financial journals as “socialism for the rich,” and there is a great deal of justifiable concern about the amount of leverage and power the government will have in the marketplace after this crisis has passed.
Continue reading “Barack Obama Is Not a Socialist!”
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Election 2008 Humor McCain Obama Politics Videos

The Animal Kingdom Endorses Obama

[digg-reddit-me]For the first time in it’s history, the Humane Society endorsed a presidential candidate, Barack Obama. They honored Obama’s record at the local and national level and expressed grave concern over Sarah Palin’s record – including opposing the Bush administration’s attempts to protect polar bears and engineering a campaign to hunt animals from helicopters and airplanes. The Human Society concluded:

Voters who care about protecting wildlife from inhumane and unsporting abuses, enforcing the laws that combat large-scale cruelties like dogfighting and puppy mills, providing humane treatment of animals in agriculture, and addressing other challenges that face animals in our nation, must become active over the next six weeks to elect a president and vice president who share our values. Please spread the word, and tell friends and family members that an honest assessment of the records of the two presidential tickets leads to the inescapable conclusion that Obama-Biden is the choice for humane-minded voters. [my emphasis]

Obama himself said that he thinks, “how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other. And it’s very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals.”

Polar Bears for Obama

(From DesignforObama)

Polar bears, of course, are scared of Sarah Palin.

Spiders for Obama

(H/t Andrew Sullivan)

Moose for Obama

(H/t reddit)

Meerkats for Obama

(From Obamabling)

Scaredy Cat for Obama

(No animals were hurt in the making of this picture.)

Smoky the Parrot for Obama

LOLcat for Obama

(From Catanna.)

Puppy for Obama

(From here.)

Teddy Bears for Obama

(From BlogNetNews.)

(From inktees.)

All these animals endorse Obama, except for those

McCain Squirrels

Categories
Election 2008 Humor McCain

Palin as President

Personally, I’m a big fan of “Cashew” as the new baby name. Explore a potential Palin Oval Office – but don’t click the red phone!

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Election 2008 McCain

Give McCain a Break

Daniel Larison (h/t Andrew Sullivan):

Give McCain a break–there may be other things at which he would have excelled, and there might be things he does very well, but demonstrating political leadership in the clutch isn’t one of them.

Categories
Election 2008 McCain Politics The Opinionsphere

McCain in a Plane over Spain

While I work on a few posts, here’s an excellent profile of John McCain from Rolling Stone. There’s no attempt to appear fair and balanced – but the piece gets a number of people who knew John McCain to talk on the record.

In this piece, Tim Dickinson blows up the myth of the maverick John McCain who grew from a reckless youth to a mature and seasoned patriot while in prison in Vietnam.

Plus, there are some interesting tidbits – like the fact that a young navy pilot named John McCain caused a major diplomatic incident when he deviated from his flight path for a joy ride just above the ground and cut some power lines causing a blackout in much of Spain. Normally, that’s enough to get your wings clipped – but neither that nor the two planes McCain crashed previously seemed to affect his career path – as his father and grandfather were important admirals.

Perhaps this incident helps explain why McCain still apparently bears a grudge against Spain.

Categories
Election 2008 Humor Obama Politics

You Stole Our Obama Sign

Someone took my yard sign a few weeks ago. I ordered 3 so I can make sure I’ll have one up for a good amount of time between now and election day.

But I didn’t think of making a sign like this. Picture from ivy windchaser.

Categories
Election 2008 Humor Obama Politics

Moose for Obama

Found on reddit.

Categories
Election 2008 McCain Politics

Old Men Are Dangerous

[digg-reddit-me]

Old men are dangerous: It doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world.

So says the 88-year old Captain Shotover in George Bernard Shaw’s play Heartbreak House. Of course, this sentiment could just as easily apply to those who believe we are in the End Times. John McCain, with his questionable temperament, just exacerbates this danger. Add to this McCain’s flair for drama, the personality cult that McCain has built around himself, and his tendency to demonize his opponents.

“It doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world.”

Think of Iran; deregulation; “killing” the United Nations; health care; massive tax cuts offset only by cutting pork; and of course, war and empire.

A man who lived his youth “looking for hardship, danger, horror, and death that [he] might feel the life in [him] more intensely” now seeks, in market his old age, by invoking the virtues of his being disinterested, of being “above politics,” of “putting country first.” This is McCain story – of an irresponsible youth – who is now wise with old age. Yet, as he wrote, “Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint.” Poetic – and an apt description of how McCain’s wisdom is limited by his personality. (While Obama’s wisdom is reinforced by his patience and focus.)

Old men have their uses – but today’s crises – financial meltdowns, terrorism, war, climate change – call for a young man who will have to live in the world he has wrought, after his power has ebbed. Just as in 1960 the nuclear standoff of the Cold War needed a new generation to take responsibility, to come into power, to wrest away from their elders the burden and privilege of leadership – so today, we must. We will live in the nation, the world created by the actions of the next president. It is important that the next president realize he must live with the consequences of his actions.

Below the jump is the context of this quote in Shaw’s play which is actually very interesting as well. The second line – a question by a young woman – describes exactly the tact McCain has taken to marketing his old age. Captain Shotover’s response reveals some other similarities with McCain – although I cannot imagine McCain being as honest or reflective.

Continue reading “Old Men Are Dangerous”
Categories
Reflections

Quote of the Day

A man is wise with the wisdom of his time only, and ignorant with its ignorant. Observe how the greatest minds yield in some degree to the superstitions of their age.

Henry David Thoreau in his diaries on January 31, 1853.
[Image of Walden Pond used courtesy of Storm Crypt licensed under Creative Commons.]

Categories
Election 2008 McCain Obama Politics

A Sarah-gogue

[digg-reddit-me]Found on page 41 of today’s New York Daily News page along with a syndicated column by the arch-conservative Charles Krauthammer which, while attacking Obama’s character through all sorts of sleazy techniques, cannot deny that “Obama is a man of first-class intellect and first-class temperament.” (Remember – Krauthammer is the guy who approvingly claims McCain wants to “kill the United Nations.”)

Continue reading “A Sarah-gogue”